I was thinking about this the other day and found this thread by doing a search and think it is worth having another look.
When a GV dies, it goes through the usual animation of tossing its turret and blowing up. But instead of just disappearing, it gets replaced with an object similar to a bomb or rocket creator. The object would look something like a tank chasse with some scorched earth around it. Whether each GV would have its own or just use a generic object is up to those doing the programming. The object would disappear after some length of time just as a bomb creator does now.
There are two reasons for this. The first is to make it more difficult for aircraft to pick out “live” vehicles. If GVs have already been killed at a spawn point and there are “dead” vehicles around, the pilot would either have to see the “live” vehicle spawn in, wait for it to start moving or shooting, or get in close to tell the difference between the dead and the living. (Not a fan of leaving the dead smoking but it could smoke for a short time as in the original suggestion.) This could give the GVs a chance to do something before they are bombed out. Perhaps the object could have collisions turned on so live vehicles could not hide in the dead, and not be able to shoot through them.
The second reason is if you get snipped or ambushed by another GV. I don’t always remember my exact location when I get killed by a sniper. If my dead vehicle was still there when I return, I will know that the enemy will have a shot if I drive back to that spot. I may remember that the shot came from the right so the sniper is ether in those trees or behind that barn. This could force the sniper to move to a new spot between victims instead of just setting up camp and waiting for the next unsuspecting vehicle to wander by.
